


My three little students

by Rey_Bee



Series: Kakashi and his kids [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Acceptance, Anger, BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), Betrayal, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 Dynamics (Naruto), Family Feels, Father Figures, Flashbacks, Friendship, Gen, Hatake Kakashi-centric, Memories, No Dialogue, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, Post-War, Regret, Teacher-Student Relationship, Team Feels, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24353755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rey_Bee/pseuds/Rey_Bee
Summary: What did Kakashi think about his three little genin? Kakashi's POV.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Kakashi and his kids [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758280
Comments: 4
Kudos: 82





	1. Sakura

* * *

His first impression of Haruno Sakura was… _My, is this her natural color…?!_ Even if you were sure Kakashi wouldn't care less about something as trivial as his new female student's hair. But he did. Not only at the beginning. In fact, the pink hair was dragging his attention every single time he saw his genin team. It was visible from long distances, so whenever he wanted to find his students, he just set his mind on _pink searching_ mode and it always worked. He would never admit it to anyone but he missed the long pink waterfall after she cut it short. And he always regretted that Sakura wouldn't let her hair grow long again.

But of course there was a bunch of more important things about his female student than her hair. For example her determination and mental strength. Why, of course he noticed it at the beginning! Who do you think he was, Hatake Kakashi, an ex-ANBU, a Yondaime's student, a candidate for the Hokage's place? No kidding. Every single time he watched Sakura beating the hell out of Naruto he couldn't believe how much strength was hidden in this (at first) weak, little body. While his jounin colleagues were claiming that Sakura would most likely abandon shinobi career in the near future, he saw a great potential in the girl and was counting on her to show all the world that a child from a civilian family can become a great ninja.

But only if he is not her sensei. Truth be told, Kakashi considered himself to be a bad choice for her teacher from the start and he shared his opinion with Sandaime (who just ignored it), but what could he do, really. Sakura, with an immense chakra control which he could compare only to Tsunade's, Sakura with her too un-ninja-like body and what's more, an un-ninja-like mind… No, it wasn't a good decision to entrust him with her. But that happened and they had to deal with it.

He was somehow relieved when he found out that she became Godaime's apprentice. With Sasuke already away from the Leaf and Naruto on his journey with Jiraiya-sensei, this situation seemed wise and promising. In fact he had planned to ask Tsunade himself about taking Sakura under her wings, but his little genin proved that she can take care of herself and of her ninja life. It was both relieving, because she was finally getting serious, and hurting, because Kakashi felt useless as a sensei… because he got the news about his student's new shishou from Asuma, who knew from Kurenai, who knew from Kiba, who knew from Chouji, who knew from Ino, WHO decided to train under the Senju princess as well after finding out that her rival wanted to become a medical ninja.

Well… He wanted to talk to her about it, he REALLY did, but you know. Missions. Missions. And more missions. Yeah. A life of ex-ANBU: you quit, but the Hokage, who knows you from the day you were born, sends you on A-ranks and even S-ranks if she is running out of people. Suddenly he had thousands excuses why he shouldn't talk to Sakura, because what would he tell her? Would he congratulate her? Seriously, if he wanted to do it right, an apology for not giving her enough of his time and his attention was inevitable. He left her be after Sasuke's desertion and Naruto's departure, so how would he even dare to just go to her and try to start a friendly conversation? So he tried to AVOID her, literally. Even during this short moments when he wasn't away from Konoha, he put a lot of effort in not crossing ways with her. He asked Tsunade once or twice about Sakura's progress just to make sure she's all right. Or maybe thrice. OK, more like ten times, each and every time he was reporting back from a mission, but NEVERMIND.

Oh, how he missed Team Seven's days.

And some years later his hidden dream became true. Well, of course Sasuke was still missing, but both Naruto and Sakura were back, just by his side, and seeing them everyday was so relieving… Not to mention Tenzo joined their team and finally even having Sai nearby seemed to lighten up his mood. He was somehow happy and he meant: HAPPY.

But the war has come. And once again he had to worry about everything. Not to mention he almost became the Hokage… what a pain.

And Sakura? Sakura grew up. She wasn't a simple fangirl anymore. Her feelings became more serious, became much deeper and she started to resemble a kunoichi Kakashi had seen in her when they met for the first time. Suddenly she was insanely strong and clever, a second best medical ninja in the village, then in all the shinobi world and he couldn't be more proud of her. Only one thing didn't change: when something concerned Sasuke, she seemed to suddenly lost all her skills, her whole potential. That was worrying, but he didn't talk to her about it, again. He didn't want to upset her.

To be entirely honest, he didn't remember the war well. He was exhausted and seriously injured when that hell became serious. He remembered the general, right. So Sakura gained that violet diamond on her forehead and saved most of shinobi by summoning lady Katsuyu. She helped during the fight with Kaguya. Damn it, she kept Naruto alive when the Kyuubi was taken away from him, and she healed him and Sasuke when they lost their arms.

Sakura was a living example of how to become a hero away from everybody's eyes. But if he was honest to himself, she was his favorite student, a student he understood the most because of their similar value system, even if as a teacher he did the least for her. It was Sakura who was keeping their team together and he wouldn't be more grateful to anyone for anything.

Anything.


	2. Naruto

* * *

His first impression of Naruto… well, he didn't really have one. He had seen him thousands of times during his ANBU shifts, his errands… and generally, their paths crossed almost every week. It doesn't mean Naruto has ever seen him though.

And here he was again: smiling, laughing, shouting, noisy and childish as always. Just in front of Kakashi.

It's not that he had never thought about all of this mess before their first meeting as Team Seven, it's just… that until then he tried to avoid this troublesome topic. He couldn't anymore.

Minato-sensei's and Kushina's son was sitting before him, looking at him somehow cheerfully, oblivious that his new sensei knew more about him that he knew about himself. Poor kid.

When Kyuubi attacked the village, Kakashi was fourteen and ANBU. He was aware of Kushina's pregnancy, aware of all the troubles around her giving birth. But everything happened in a blink of an eye: one day Minato-sensei invited him for dinner in his house in the next evening. NEXT EVENING. No one knew. No one could know. Somebody could only PREDICT that something might go wrong, but that the Fourth Hokage would die? That the attack would happen? Oh, no. Not at all. Instead of coming to their place for dinner, he broke in their house and took some of his sensei's and his wife belongings, cause he wanted to have some memento of them. They wouldn't mind.

And he knew who Naruto was, he belonged to ANBU after all.

Kakashi considered taking the little blonde under his care for a long time. But at first he was simply too young. No one would entrust a baby (who was the Kyuubi weilder) to a teenager, no matter how good of a shinobi he was. So he decided to wait. Naruto has been placed in the orphanage, he had somebody to look after him.

But in age of five, the orphanage refused to keep Naruto and the Hokage decided that the boy would live in a small apartment. All alone. Kakashi got to know about it by accident, but it was no secret among the ANBU agents. The following years were flowing and Naruto's ANBU guards were changing every day and every night. So yeah, Kakashi did see Naruto quite often, like three-four times a week. And of course he thought again about getting custody of him, but… well, there surely were some buts, there had to be, right? Because he DIDN'T take him in.

He left ANBU, failed two genin teams, he was doing… he didn't even know what exactly, but suddenly he got Team Seven under his wings and Naruto was one of its members. And all Kakashi knew was that Minato-sensei would be very, very disappointed with him. Because if Minato'd been still alive, he would've made sure that Kakashi, his only remaining student, became a big brother to his son. And he certainly would expect from Kakashi to take care of Naruto should something happen to him or Kushina, maybe not that Kakashi would adopt Naruto, but just… well, look after him in a way, from time to time. Or at least show some care.

No. He failed him. And he knew it just too well. So he promised himself that he would never ever let Naruto out of his sight again.

If it was that easy. Naruto was a troublemaker. Team Seven failed a couple of D-ranks just because of his messiness. Naruto was reckless and even if Kakashi knew that from the very beginning, a mission in Wave had to happen to show him just HOW reckless the boy really was. Generally, the unexpected A-rank in Waves left a mark on him for the rest of his life. It was the moment when he finally understood what being a teacher meant. He couldn't sleep well afterwards. Having seen his three students at the edge of death was somehow different than seeing some of his ANBU subordinates getting hurt or even killed. Spare Tenzo.

He also found out what having a child under your care means, he had two orphans under himself.

He didn't want to enter his kids to the Chuunin Exams. Something just didn't seem right and he DIDN'T want them to take it, but knowing that the other rookies were going to participate, he nominated his team. Of course he regretted it…

And again, everything happen so fast after the Oto attack in Konoha. Suddenly, the nature of his two male student's rivalry changed and it wasn't a simple competitiveness anymore, it was a pure hostility. He missed the right moment to stop this, late as usually. And guess what, he MISSED the night when Sasuke left the village. He was AWAY from Konoha and he couldn't go after him. So what, so NARUTO went after Sasuke, Sasuke almost killed him and all Kakashi has done was finding Naruto and carrying him back home. Before he got a new bunch of high-ranked missions, he managed to officially transfer Naruto to Jiraiya. And then he left. With no word of farewell to his student.

Seeing him again on the roof of the Hokage Tower warmed his heart. Having the second bell test with Naruto and Sakura warmed his heart too. He was just happy to be with them again. Time was passing, Sasuke didn't come back, and Kakashi decided that the moment has come. He had a great idea for Naruto's training and he was going to realize it. Soon, the rasenshuriken came to life and he was just too proud of Naruto's accomplishment.

Pain's attack. An interesting experience, indeed: Kakashi died, met his father, talked to him, woke up and… well, the mess finished and 'Naruto the demon boy' turned into 'Naruto the village hero'. Everybody, EVERYBODY loved him. The joy didn't last long though, as Sasuke's matter came to view again. Naruto underwent a mental breakdown, which Kakashi couldn't really deal with. Then the fight against their former Uchiha teammate happened. Then they were back in Konoha. And then the war started. They were fighting for Naruto, for his life and to Kakashi this war was personal by all means. As always, Naruto gave some inspiring speeches, which let him take part in fights, which convinced the Kyuubi (now Kurama) to join them against Madara, which finally dragged Obito (who WAS ALIVE) back on their side. At the end he fought Sasuke and returned him to the Leaf.

Just after all this mess Kakashi realized that he met Minato-sensei again. And to be honest, he was relieved that they didn't have much time to talk because he would never ever explain himself from what he didn't do for Naruto during his childhood. Bless the dizziness and the injuries he got.

Now there wasn't much left from Naruto's clumsiness, recklessness and impulsiveness. He was the biggest hero who, along with his many friends, created a new shinobi world. He was going to become a Kage one day… well, if Kakashi agrees. But he knew he would.


	3. Sasuke

* * *

His first impression of Sasuke was far more complex than the ones of Sakura and Naruto. Why? Well, he hadn't been observing Sasuke for a long time (like he'd been observing Naruto), nor was now the very first time he's seen him (like he's first seen Sakura), in fact it was something in between.

He never met him personally, true. But he remembered very well a face of a child which he saw every time Itachi opened his closet at the ANBU headquarters couple of years before. A smiling, dark-eyed boy, so similar to his older brother, so innocent and smiley.

There wasn't much left from this child now. Only some face features, if he was honest. There was no innocence, no smile on his lips, and his dark eyes were piercing him to the ground every time he looked at him. Sweet irony… He remembered Itachi's gaze and back then it'd been so calm and reassuring. People were repeating over and over again how Uchiha Sasuke's face was similar to his brother's, but really, Kakashi hardly saw any resemblance.

When he met Itachi, he liked him almost instantly. When he met Sasuke… he wished Team Seven didn't pass the bell test. Sasuke was a walking store of negative emotions and Kakashi felt it from the distance. Dealing with this kid would be such a pain.

But the world just had to prove him wrong, when he watched Sasuke giving Naruto some food during the test. He wondered if the young Uchiha knew that he'd just saved himself and his new teammates from going back to the Academy. Okay, NOW he couldn't fail them… Well, he didn't really want to fail Naruto in the first place, but he considered it as Sasuke was in the team too.

Oh, whatever. Karma or something. At least he didn't have to go to Hokage's office and explain himself before the man from failing the third genin team in a row. So there were some profits after all.

Four days: it was enough to understand that Sasuke was not only lost in a jungle of negative emotions, but that his arrogance was second to none (save the Hyuuga) and that he lacked basic social skills. And Kakashi meant it, Sasuke LACKED social skills. He was left alone for too long. And now… it was Kakashi's job to fix it, because Naruto may have had Iruka-sensei, but Sasuke didn't. He had… him. Joy. How to become a parent/big brother/guardian instant course, and you better do it right or else you'll end with a socially disabled teen on your side.

He didn't like spending time with the Uchiha boy. But he knew it's for the best, so he was giving him his time anyway. He was deceiving himself that one day, maybe ONE DAY it would do some good to Sasuke.

It did, actually. The mission in Wave ended and Kakashi had to proceed everything very slowly:

He almost died.

His cute little students almost died.

Sasuke activated his sharingan.

Sasuke… did he save Naruto?

Yeah, he did. Suddenly a flicker of hope made its way to his mind and really, he almost relaxed. So maybe those long training sessions with Sasuke haven't been for nothing. Maybe the boy has been really listening to him, when Kakashi mumbled some comments about life, people, being ninja…

In fact their team meetings became FUN. Sasuke visibly relaxed (fine, Naruto didn't see it, but at least Sakura did), he spoke more, he interacted more with his friends. Yes, they were finally his FRIENDS and the change was breathtaking: there were more of their ramen lunches, there were sleepovers (at SASUKE'S place!) and, the best of all, the kids tried to get a look under Kakashi's mask. Truth be told, he hadn't had this much fun ever before. Their efforts were just so innocent and hilarious that he got unusually curious about how all of it looks from their point of view. So he dressed up as a photographer… Good time, indeed.

BANG. Chunin Exams. Orochimaru. Curse mark. The tension was almost unbearable, but he sighed with relief when he saw all three of them alive. He then sealed Sasuke's mark and took him for a month training outside the village. Naruto needed him too, but he knew Sasuke wouldn't bear his presence well, so he convinced Ebisu to train the blonde. Not that he thought it would be a great idea, but it WAS an idea. Fortunately, Jiraiya DEIGNED to appear in Konoha just before he left the village with Sasuke, and told him that he want to train Naruto. Kakashi was relieved, really. He left him in good hands.

Training with Sasuke was… hard. Kakashi was teaching him the chidori and he knew the kid would master it, but the real problem was the curse mark. Sasuke needed to work very hard on keeping it under control. He was doing a good job about it, he really was, but it wasn't enough. The mark affected him heavily and activated a couple of times. The first one was the worst, then Kakashi learnt how to deal with it. Mostly.

Having Sasuke twenty four hours per seven for a month had an impact on Kakashi. He was sure he'd already understood the young Uchiha, but honestly, he hadn't. Sasuke… opened up. He told him about his family. About his life after the massacre. He told him everything about what Itachi had said to him when he murdered all those people. He CRIED. He admitted that he didn't know what to do anymore, because he needed to avenge his clan, but his life in Team Seven was just so amazing… This night he fell asleep with Kakashi's hand on his head and only after swallowing a sleeping pill. And Kakashi stayed awake the whole night.

He was thinking. How to keep Sasuke in the village? Man, being an adult was such a pain when you had a kid under your care.

But now he knew he needed to keep him in Konoha and he was determined to succeed.

He did see Sasuke started to be a little jealous of Naruto's fast improvement, but it didn't seem dangerous then. The Oto attack was over, the fight with Gaara was over too and there came again sweet Team Seven's days. Some missions, some lunches at Ichiraku, some sleepovers. As if nothing had happened. Sasuke came to him two times at night, when he struggled with the curse mark, but they just dealt with it, no problem.

Itachi appeared.

Where has Kakashi been when it happened? Well, in a place he should have been, believe it. He was just enough of an idiot to look into Itachi's eyes and let the Tsukuyomi devour him. So when he woke up, everything was already over.

Tsunade came back to the village and healed Sasuke. Kakashi was on his way to visit him in the hospital, when he noticed a bunch of Naruto's shadow clones on the roof. He had a bad feeling about it… He got there fast enough to save Sakura from the rasengan and the chidori and parted two fighting boys not too gently. To say he was disappointed was an understatement, because he was pissed. He didn't show it to Sasuke though: the boy was furious himself and an argument would have only worsened his state, so he only gave him a short lecture and decided to talk to him in the near future.

He never get a chance to, of course.

Naruto and Sakura were blaming themselves for what's happened and he even told them it's not their fault, but it didn't work. Naruto left with Jiraiya and Kakashi was pulled into a whirl of endless missions. He was asking himself if he's at fault here… And realized that no, it wasn't his fault. He hadn't been passive in all the process, in fact he tried to help Sasuke as much as he could, but it was for nothing anyway. No, he wasn't the one to blame.

So he couldn't help a tiny flicker of anger directed towards Sasuke. The flicker has been growing for almost three years and when Kakashi reunited with Sakura and Naruto, he hoped that his students wouldn't force a conversation about their former teammate, because he knew they wouldn't accept his way of thinking.

A reluctance towards Sasuke he felt at the beginning came back, but this time it was justified and much stronger.

And the kids has gone on a mission with Tenzo to drag this idiot back to Konoha. And they failed. And there was a lot of sorrow aftermath which he only pretended to feel. But they couldn't know. So he accompanied Naruto after the Pain attack, he even supported him before the Raikage. They heard Madara's story and everything started to make sense. And then they met Sasuke.

Yes, he tried from all his strength to kill him. He would admit it to anyone who asked him about it. Uchiha Sasuke was a threat, he killed Itachi, he killed Danzo, he was a missing nin and, what's the most important, he almost killed Sakura and that was unforgivable. Because Kakashi promised himself that he won't lost any of his comrades. Not ever again.

War. War. War. And suddenly this idiot appeared, claiming that he was on their side. No kidding. Kakashi observed his every move, ready to react should the last Uchiha try something on Sakura or Naruto. And really, if he hadn't been exhausted when they'd defeated Kaguya, he would have tried to kill him where he stood. Fuck. Sasuke was going to kill Naruto, he knew from the beginning that it wouldn't be this easy. He should've slit his throat when he had a chance to, so what if the world would end? That heartless bastard.

But Naruto dealt with him in his own way and of course everything ended fine, it's Naruto we're talking about.

Kakashi had a long battle with himself. When he sorted some things up in his head, he got into Sasuke's cell and settled down just next to him. And the Uchiha recognized him. With his chakra restrained and his eyes covered, he recognized him instantly. They had a long conversation, quiet and peaceful, so similar to the one they had had five years earlier during their training away from Konoha. Just too similar. Only Sasuke was ten times more lost than before.

And then it just hit Kakashi that maybe… just maybe it wasn't entirely Sasuke's fault either.

He wasn't sure if he should allow him to go on his atonement journey, but Tsunade waved him away and told him to do what he wanted. So he did.

And every new message a hawk brought to his office reassured him that he made a right choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone! Please, let me know what you think:)


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